File image of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.© AFP
India captain Rohit Sharma’s childhood coach Dinesh Lad has suggested that the opening batter should play a couple of domestic games to prepare for Test cricket after his dismal form in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. India lost the five-Test series 3-1 and missed out on a third successive spot in the World Test Championship final. Rohit, who missed the first Test of the series due to the birth of his second child, failed to score beyond 10 runs next five innings before opting to rest in the fifth Test at Sydney Cricket Ground. He accumulated only 31 runs in five innings of the series and came under public scrutiny for his substandard outings.
Moreover, former cricketers and the media also questioned his leadership skills, which lost India a chance to win the ICC major in red-ball cricket.
Dinesh Lad highlighted that after winning the T20 World Cup last year, Rohit’s priorities were winning the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup. But after the debacle in Australia, coach said Rohit should focus on playing domestic cricket before playing Test cricket.
“I think Rohit has only two goals – first to win the World Test Championship and second to win the ODI World Cup. If he wanted he could have retired from all formats (after T20 World Cup title) but he only retired from T20 cricket. He is not the only cricketer who was struggling to score runs. He should play one or two domestic games to prepare for Test matches,” Dinesh Lad told IANS.
“Because of T20 cricket, the mindset of batters has changed. He is a technically sound cricketer and against England last year he was scoring good runs. If we win, people call Rohit the best captain but when we lose people say he doesn’t know captaincy,” the Dronacharya awardee added.
After the struggling patch in Test cricket, Rohit will next gear up for the white-ball challenge against England before the Champions Trophy. India will host England for five T20Is and three ODIs, starting on January 22.
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